Porous bodies of ceramic such as cordierite, mullite and titanium nitride have been used as a carrier for an exhaust gas-cleaning catalyst, a carrier for petroleum-refining catalyst and a carrier for a catalyst for petrochemical reactions. Moreover, some of the porous ceramic bodies have been utilized also as a carrier for a NOx adsorbent.
Conventionally, it has been known that porous ceramic bodies may have various shapes such as sphere, honeycomb and ring. Also,it has been proposed that the porous ceramic bodies may have various compositions. Furthermore, in order to improve the physical properties of the porous ceramic bodies, various kinds of improved production methods have been proposed.
In addition, from demands for catalyst life extension and the like, much more improvement in strength has been required for the spherical porous ceramic bodies in recent years.